Teen jailed for unprovoked attack

A 32-year-old was attacked while waiting for his friends to use the facilities.

An 18-year-old man has been sentenced to prison for two years and six months after admitting he punched and kicked a man on the ground in an unprovoked attack.

Supporters sobbed in the Hastings District Court yesterday after Falcon Kaine Walsh's sentencing on the charge of injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. He has no previous criminal convictions.

On the night of August 3, Walsh and co-accused Jacob Patrick Broderick, who has pleaded not guilty to the same charge, were drinking in Havelock North even though they were 17 at the time.

Judge Tony Adeane said the friends approached the victim as he sat outside public toilets, waiting for two female friends to use the facilities.

In an unprovoked attack, the 32-year-old victim was kicked in the face with enough force to knock him from his seat and into a daze.

Walsh punched the victim in the head six or seven times, before kicking him in the jaw using the base of his foot, as the victim lay on the ground.

The victim was taken to Hawke's Bay Hospital, where he was put into a coma for 24 hours and remained in hospital for five days.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by his sister, the victim said he still suffered headaches and had issues with balance, concentration and, while he was once "chilled and relaxed," he was now anxiety ridden. He had recently started work part time, was having financial difficulty and an operation for another medical condition was postponed because of the attack injuries.

Walsh's lawyer Roger Philip said Walsh had given a "full and frank account of events" when questioned by police and his actions were impulsive.

Court documents said Walsh later bragged of the attack to friends at a nearby McDonald's, with Walsh's knuckles bleeding from the blows to the victim.

Judge Adeane said Walsh had received a reduction to his sentence for his early guilty plea and his age. He accepted Walsh's remorse and previous good character but said the case had aggravating features: The level of violence with serious injury, it was an attack to the head, the gratuitous nature of the last kick, and it was two against one.

"It is no small step to imprison a young man at 18 years with no previous convictions," he said.

After Wash was led away, the court was silent except for a woman's sobbing. She was led away by supporters but was inconsolable, sitting outside the courthouse in tears. The supporters declined to comment.

Victim hoped for harsher sentence

By Harrison Christian

The victim of a vicious assault in Havelock North has not forgiven his attacker, his sister says.

The Hastings woman said after Falcon Kaine Walsh's sentencing in Hastings District Court yesterday, she and her brother were pleased with Judge Tony Adeane's decision, although they would have preferred a tougher sentence.

"Obviously we're rapt. We're pleased that he [Walsh] is made to face some consequences for his actions. What he did is a horrible thing and [the victim] is still facing it. For a while, we were thinking he might not get anything. It's been an emotional day."

Asked if she and her brother had forgiven Walsh, she said: "No, I wouldn't go that far. We'd like to have seen him go away for longer but two-and-a-half years is better than nothing."

The victim, a 32-year-old Hastings electrician, has resumed work this week, working just two hours a day as he continues to recover physically and emotionally from the attack.